Pivotal Holding Call Infuriates Elder

TAMPA — Donnie Elder saw the yellow hankie as a grievous mistake. Wesley Walls saw it as fitting justice. Everyone else saw it as the most critical throw of Sunday's 20-16 victory by San Francisco.

The situation: 49ers third-and-goal at the 9, 54 seconds left and Tampa Bay ahead by three points. Joe Montana throws an incompletion, but Elder is flagged for holding Walls, giving the 49ers an automatic first down at the 4.

Instead of having to kick a field goal which would have sent the game into overtime, San Francisco was able to score the touchdown which meant instant victory.

''I just jammed the guy,'' Elder said. ''Would I be stupid enough to grab a tight end, a guy who wasn't even in the play? Get serious.

''I was well within the 5-yard jam zone. I jammed him good, but I never did put my hands on him. I see the pass go incomplete, I'm standing there celebrating, and then I see the flag come flying at me.''

In the other dressing room, Walls, naturally, was telling a different version.

''Joe was looking at me the whole way,'' Walls said, ''and the guy really took me out of it.''

Elder defended himself in the locker room for 20 minutes, still perplexed by the call.

''I did my job - period,'' he said. ''I don't think it was even close to being holding.''

Elder's defensive backfield mate, Mark Robinson, said he wasn't close enough to see what happened. The effect, though, was as deflating as anything he has experienced.

''You spill your guts. You are tired, you are hurting, then something like that happens. That's what makes this whole thing so tough,'' he said.

On the other hand, nose tackle Curt Jarvis said there was no way the defense should fault Elder.

''They the 49ers should never have been down there in the first place. That's the thing about it - we shouldn't have let them put us in that position. Sure, that was the most important play of the game. But that wasn't what beat us. We beat us.''